Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetNY-WEST-SAND-LAKE-NY · West Sand Lake, NY 3,453 pop · income 89th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around West Sand Lake
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest West Sand Lake on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Macon · lowest
29,167
Macon · lowest
29,167 median HH income
11.8% of the leader · rank #1
West Sand Lake · this city
126,595
West Sand Lake · this city
126,595 median HH income
51.1% of the leader · rank #2
Avon · near
126,618
Avon · near
126,618 median HH income
51.1% of the leader · rank #3
Big Rock · near
126,667
Big Rock · near
126,667 median HH income
51.2% of the leader · rank #4
Venersborg · near
126,667
Venersborg · near
126,667 median HH income
51.2% of the leader · rank #5
Pleasant View · near
126,679
Pleasant View · near
126,679 median HH income
51.2% of the leader · rank #6
Muttontown · highest
247,589
Muttontown · highest
247,589 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for West Sand Lake on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 3,453.
Nationally, West Sand Lake sits in the 89th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
89th
percentile, household income
68th
percentile, home value
78th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: West Sand Lake, NY
3,453 people live in West Sand Lake, New York - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in West Sand Lake report a median income of $126,595 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.8%. Typical homes in West Sand Lake are valued around $322,300, and the median resident age is 42.1 years. 44.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 73.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
New York carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts New York at 107.9 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,579 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $285 across New York, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 69.4 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of West Sand Lake's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from schools and households to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For West Sand Lake, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for West Sand Lake?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 44.7% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
What does the journey to work look like in West Sand Lake?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for West Sand Lake?
Within New York, the closest population matches are West Nyack (3,437 residents, $136,696 income); Newfane (3,470 residents, $75,049 income); Lowville (3,432 residents, $73,656 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Tiger Point, FL (3,453 residents); Gray, GA (3,453 residents); Lisbon, ME (3,453 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
How far does income reach against housing in West Sand Lake?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Household income A
$126,595
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A-
2.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B+
44.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living F
107.9 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
West Sand Lake profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 89/100 (A) · $126,595
Poverty rate: 80/100 (A-) · 2.8%
Bachelor's+ share: 79/100 (B+) · 44.7%
Cost of living: 12/100 (F) · 107.9 index
How does West Sand Lake compare to other US cities?
West Sand Lake measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income89% higher than other cities
Home value68% pricier than other cities
Median rent78% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares West Sand Lake against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to New York only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
New York-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places West Sand Lake near the bottom of New York's cities
Among the 1,256 New York cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, West Sand Lake ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares West Sand Lake only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#289 of 1,205
76th percentile in New York
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,256
0th percentile in New York
Median Home Value
#467 of 1,202
61st percentile in New York
Poverty Rate
#797 of 1,246
35th percentile in New York
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#402 of 1,254
68th percentile in New York
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within New York only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
89th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How West Sand Lake's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$322,30032nd percentilemore affordable than 32% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
West Sand Lake's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,232 of 15,516
More affordable than 73% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,799 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.5×, West Sand Lake sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,232 of 15,516 and #3,799 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$126,595West Sand Lake, NY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context West Sand Lake, NY median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for West Sand Lake, NY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)44.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)73.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,453
Median Income
$126,595
Median Home Value
$322,300
Median Age
42.1
Poverty Rate
2.8%
Labor force participation
73.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
44.7%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.5%
Carpool
3.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
9.5%
Other
10.0%
Based on 1,817 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
New York statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $285
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across New York at $285 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $65 ).
These are New York statewide averages, not a meter reading for West Sand Lake. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
New York's BEA cost-of-living index is 107.9 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around West Sand Lake is $1,579/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to New York statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 69.4 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a New York statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county West Sand Lake sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How West Sand Lake compares to similar-size New York cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.